Description
After the publication of Middlemarch in 1871-2, the English reading public hailed George Eliot as the greatest novelist of English provincial life. Using an analytical, quasi-scientific approach to writing, she consciously rejected the "silly novels by lady novelists" that she so detested. In this volume, Rosemary Ashton reveals that George Eliot aimed to teach "aesthetically" rather than dogmatically through her novels. Her tolerant, free-thinking philosophy of humanity--remarkable for the Victorian age--remains refreshing and enlightening for readers today.
